Sir John Vanbrugh

(1664-1726)

English playwright and Baroque architect, born in London, the son of a tradesman. Educated in France and commissioned into Lord Huntingdon's regiment, he suffered imprisonment in the Bastille as a suspected spy. His major architectural work was Blenheim Palace which was so disliked by the Duchess of Marlborough that she refused to pay him for some time.

Works

• Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire (1705-20).
• Castle Howard (1699-1726).